Page:Dickens - A Child s History of England, 1900.djvu/27

Rh are very ancient ruins, which the people call the ruins of 's Castle.

Kent is the most famous of the seven Saxon kingdoms, because the Christian religion was preached to the Saxons there (who domineered over the Britons too much, to care for what they said about their religion, or anything else), by, a monk from Rome. , of Kent, was soon converted; and the moment he said he was a Christian, his courtiers all said their were Christians; after which, ten thousand of his subjects said they were Christians too. built a little church, close to this king's palace, on the ground now occupied by the beautiful cathedral of Canterbury. , the king's nephew, built on a muddy marshy place, near London, where there had been a temple to Apollo, a church dedicated to Saint Peter, which is now Westminster Abbey. And, in London itself, on the foundation of a temple to Diana, he built another little church, which has risen up, since that old time, to be Saint Paul's.

After the death of, , King of Northumbria, who was such a good king that it was said a woman or child might openly carry a purse of gold, in his reign, without fear, allowed his child to be baptized, and held a great council to consider whether he and his people should all be Christians or not. It was decided that they should be. Coin, the chief priest of the old religion, made a great speech on the occasion. In this discourse he told the people that he had found out the old gods to be impostors. "I am quite satisfied of it," he said. "Look at me! I have been serving them all my life, and they have done nothing for me; whereas, if they had been really powerful, they could not have decently done less, in return for all I have done for them, than make my fortune. As they have never made my fortune, I am quite convinced they are impostors!"

When this singular priest had finished speaking, he hastily armed himself with sword and lance, mounted a war-horse, rode at a furious gallop in sight of all the people to the temple, and flung his lance against it as an insult. From that time, the Christian religion spread itself among the Saxons, and became their faith.

The next very famous prince was He lived about a hundred and fifty years afterwards, and claimed